The Asbury Park City Council unanimously approved a bond ordinance increasing the amount of funding for the construction of a new municipal firehouse to $22 million, tapinto.net reported.

The proposed site of the new headquarters is on city-owned property located at 200 Memorial Drive which is currently being used as a municipal parking lot, the report said. 

The ordinance approved during Wednesday night’s council meeting amends an original $3.5 million bond ordinance passed in 2018 increasing it by $18.5 million, according to the report. 

The city’s current firehouse, located at 800 Main Street, will be turning 123 years old this summer and city firefighters can indeed attest that the building is showing clear signs of aging, the report said. 

The Bedford Town Council said the town was awarded a grant from the Virginia Fire Services Board for the Regional Fire Service Training Facilities, wset.com reported.

The grant, of up to $19,203, will allow the Bedford Fire Department to install towers on the current training facilities grounds for rescue training, the report said. This would be not only for volunteers in Bedford but across the state.

The council said the town was also notified that the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) will provide funding up to $1,000 per Bedford police officer that attends training for the crisis intervention team. The DCJS funds are restricted to police department spending only but can be used for items like equipment or training, the report said.

The council shared that the department will use these funds for the remaining amount needed to purchase a police ballistic shield and update expired trauma kits. The council approved the budget amendments for both of these pieces of funding.

Mustang police Friday released video of police officers chasing and arresting a man for stealing a fire truck a week ago.

The fire department’s squad had just completed a medical call and firefighters were ready to head back to the station when someone jumped into the vehicle and fled on Friday, Jan. 20.

Video captured the 20-mile chase leading to the driver getting out of the truck at the Tower Theater in Oklahoma City, Channel 9 reports.

The suspect stopped the truck and exited with his hands up. He briefly got on the ground, but then proceeded into the theater where police captured him. A court set his bail at $71,000.

Mustang Police Chief Robert Groseclose presented the Fire Chief Craig Carruth with a steering wheel lock to commemorate the event.

The truck was not damaged in the incident.

A Troup County man has been arrested and charged with throwing rocks at a fire truck and getting on the vehicle’s radio to rant over the airwaves.

Seneca Buchanan, 40, is charged with obstructing law enforcement, obstructing firefighters, and interfering with government property, Fox 5 reports.

The charges stem from a Wednesday incident in which the man allegedly set fire to his camper. When Troup County Fire Department firefighters arrived to extinguish the fire at Youngs Mill Road at about 5:30 p.m., that’s when he allegedly began throwing rocks and disrupting the fire response.

Firefighters had to wait for the Troup County Sheriff to arrest the man before they could put out the fire.